Abstract
At old age, humans generally have declining muscle mass and increased fat deposition, which can increase the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. While regular physical activity postpones these age-related derangements, this is not always possible in the elderly because of disabilities or risk of injury. Whole-body vibration (WBV) training may be considered as an alternative to physical activity particularly in the frail population. To explore this possibility, we characterized whole-body and organ-specific metabolic processes in 6-month and 25-month old mice, over a period of 14 weeks of WBV versus sham training. WBV training tended to increase blood glucose turnover rates and stimulated hepatic glycogen utilization during fasting irrespective of age. WBV was effective in reducing white fat mass and hepatic triglyceride content only in old but not in young mice and these reductions were related to upregulation of hepatic mitochondrial uncoupling of metabolism (assessed by high-resolution respirometry) and increased expression of uncoupling protein 2. Because these changes occurred independent of changes in food intake and whole-body metabolic rate (assessed by indirect calorimetry), the liver-specific effects of WBV may be a primary mechanism to improve metabolic health during aging, rather than that it is a consequence of alterations in energy balance.
Highlights
Declining mortality due to advances in the health care system results in a right-shift in the age distribution of humans in industrialized societies
Whole-body vibration (WBV) was effective in reducing white fat mass and hepatic triglyceride content only in old but not in young mice and these reductions were related to upregulation of hepatic mitochondrial uncoupling of metabolism and increased expression of uncoupling protein 2
The effects of WBV on the animal characteristics at the end of the experimental protocol are summarized in Fig 1 and Table 1
Summary
Declining mortality due to advances in the health care system results in a right-shift in the age distribution of humans in industrialized societies. The global share of older people (aged 60 years or over) increased from 9.2% in 1990 to 11.7% in 2013 and will continue to grow as a proportion of the world population, reaching 21.1% in 2050 [1]. This is expected to have major social and economic consequences, because the population as a whole may not necessarily be healthier than before. Maintenance of regular physical activity has been shown to attenuate the age-related decline in muscle mass and strength [4] as well as fattening of the body [5], and to preserve metabolic functioning [6], this way contributing to improved overall health in older adults. Many traditional forms of physical activity may not be suitable for elderly due to debilitation, increased risk of injury, or lack of motivation
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